Sessions at EIBTM on Tuesday 29th November

What are your technology questions, issues and challenges? Do you have questions about the effectiveness of virtual conferencing, social media or other technologies used in meetings? Bring them to this session facilitated by the Technology Expert Panel to get your questions answered and to share with others some best practices.

Our world is changing, and more importantly so is the event industry. A new generation is rising to the fore, and they don't just want to sit around and be talked at. Nowadays people need to do the talking if they've got something to say. And today's young people understand more than we've ever given them credit for. If we stay stuck in old dogma we won't get far. We need to keep up with the intense desire to share, and we need to work on providing what our latest attendees really want out of events. In this session we will discuss all of these 21st century issues and a lot more.

Are you having a hard time figuring out how to create hybrid events that are as engaging as your face-to-face events? Here you will find out several strategies and secrets that will help you breathe life and energy into your next hybrid event!

The rapid growth of Facebook as a professional platform is challenging hoteliers to find new ways to reach their audiences. This seminar will share the experience of hundreds of hotels who are already starting to create a Facebook presence and generate fans and customers through SocialBooking™. Benefit fully from the Social Network effect, by treating your fans to special offers, allowing them to book directly on Facebook, and to market to their friends.

While we are racing to jump on the rich content and social media bandwagon, we forget to check if our websites are ready for these new media or if it is currently technology user friendly for your viewers. Your attendees are talking about your event, searching for information and sharing updates with colleagues using social networking platforms and mobile devices. How do you bring these conversations into your event website and make it a central hub for learning and connecting?

This session will help you determine whether your website is truly optimised for social media and mobile devices such as Smartphones and tablets. It will highlight where you need to pay attention, help you to ensure your website is ready for any unexpected outcomes at or before your event and provide you with a strategy for connecting with your attendees more efficiently.
Interactive voting provided by PowerVote (Technology Village Stand O135)

NFC technology is currently being adopted by restaurants and the retail and transport sectors. It’s also being taken on by those involved in the event industry. In this session we will look at the future of NFC and its opportunities in terms of ticketing, networking, marketing among the event industry. NFC looks like a more interactive technology than QR codes for the capability to perform online actions offline, it's ease of use, security and instant response make it a technology with high potential. Hundreds of NFC pilot projects have now been undertaken all over the world, and like any technology, NFC has taken some time to gain traction, but it’s on track to go mainstream soon.

If you are interested in personal career advancement or obtaining an international designation in meetings management, don’t miss this session!

MPI is providing 1.5 hours of dynamic training at EIBTM, which consists of globally recognized skills and competencies training for the meeting and business event professional. The content for this session is directly coming from MPI Global Training modules of the Global certificate in Meetings and Business Events levels II & III (a 5-day residential program) and the most prestigious designation in the meetings and events industry; CMM. This session offers learning opportunities and the possibility to interact and ask your questions to multiple CMM trainers while in this session where we will connect you with the global experts in the trade that deliver the CMM training around the globe.

If you are interested in personal career advancement or obtaining an international designation in meetings management, don’t miss this session! This is your chance to get a sense of where you are in your professional development and what training will enable you to move your career to the next step of professionalism.

Mobile apps are certainly a trend in the world of conferences and trade shows. They offer the chance to increase the attendee experience by bringing personalised and interactive content into the palm of their hands. But while most of these apps rely on the availability of wireless Internet, foreign attendees do not want to pay for expensive roaming and most venues are not catching up with their WIFI infrastructure. An expensive mobile app for your conference can thus become worthless when WIFI... well... sucks. In this presentation, we will address the following questions: What's the difference between web-apps and native apps? What requirements do conference apps pose on the venue's WIFI infrastructure? Which questions should you ask to app providers regarding WIFI-dependence

With so much technology to power virtual events, will face-to-face events go away? Join Leonora Valvo, visionary founder and CEO of the global event software company named etouches, to discuss the future of events in a world where travel is a luxury, people need localised content and need to meet together in culturally-specific groups to connect.